RESPONSE OF BROILER CHICKENS TO DIETARY LEVELS OF MAIZE OFFAL

Abstract

A study aimed at investigating the response of broiler chickens fed dietary levels of maize offal at both starter and finisher phase. Proximate analysis were conducted and the results reveal that maize offal contain ME - 3253.11 Kcal/kg, DM - 10.46, CP - 10.98, CF - 8.68, EE - 3.10, Ash - 3.19, and NFE-72.08%. Five diets were formulated in which maize replaced wheat offal at 0, 25, 50, 75 and 100% levels designated as T1, T2, T3, T4 and T5 respectively. Throughout the experimental period, birds were fed ad libitum. Two hundred and fifty day old Anak 2000 breed of broiler chickens were used for the experiment. The feeding trial indicated that birds fed diet 1 had a significantly (P>0.05) lower average daily weight (27.19g) than other treatments at the starter phase but no significant (P>0.05) difference were observed on daily feed intake, and feed conversion ratio. At the finisher phase, there was no statistical (P>0.05) difference on daily feed intake, daily weight gain and feed conversion ratio of the birds. The feed cost in naira per kg and feed cost per kg decreases with increased level of maize offal. Diet 5 recorded the least feed cost of N112.09/kg and the highest cost savings of N103.60. It can therefore be concluded that, maize offal can replace wheat offal in the diets of broiler chickens at 100% level without adverse effect on performance, with a notable reduction in feed cost by 32.4 %